


a dust cloud on the rise

by piccadillypalare



Category: Duran Duran, Spandau Ballet
Genre: Fighting, ok the violence won't be too graphic, sorry spandau ballet, they're all pretentious, this is like a crack fic tbh, this is so dumb omg, this will be 4 chapters maybe if I can get this done
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-08-24
Updated: 2017-10-20
Packaged: 2018-12-19 09:47:34
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,949
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11895141
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/piccadillypalare/pseuds/piccadillypalare
Summary: AU inspired by the outsiders where the duran duran guys are in a gang together and they're basically the tough cool people and their enemies are the rich preppy gangs... such as spandau ballet.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> DON'T TAKE THIS FIC SERIOUSLY I'm writing this for fun because I couldn't stop thinking about the outsiders and cool pretentious gangs and I was like "wouldn't it be funny if duran duran was a gang and they and spandau ballet would literally fight each other"
> 
> no disrespect to spandau ballet I genuinely like them but HAHA they're the lame preppies now. also the durans are slightly more punk in this for convenience.

Roger rolled his shoulder, starting to feel the weight of the amount of beer he was carrying. The sun was finally beginning to set, which was good because he was sweating slightly under his leather jacket.

  
He turned the street corner and arrived at Simon’s house, where they usually met up since Simon was their unofficial leader. It didn’t really have anything to do with hierarchy, it was because he was the oldest and tallest of them.

  
Having his arms full, he kicked gently at the door, which had been slightly ajar and now opened wide.

  
”Hey guys,” he said, taking stock of the room where the Damned was playing loudly on the radio.

  
Simon and John were at the table playing cards, both looking frustrated and yet cocky, like they were winning and losing at the same time.

  
Nick was lounging in his armchair – the least ratty looking chair in the room which he had claimed some time ago and which no one bothered to fight him about – while sharpening his nails with an extremely sharp nailfile which Roger knew him to have used as a shiv sometimes. Nick had a proper, pretty switchblade too, but he knew it made him look cool when he’d casually sharpen his nails and then stab someone when they didn’t expect it.

  
Nick was a dangerous one for a 16-year-old kid. He was the youngest of them, but none of them fucked with him because he was tough in a cool, elegant way and could absolutely destroy them, but also because he was their friend and they liked him.

  
Nick smiled and nodded at him when he came in the room and then returned to his important task with his nails.

  
Simon and John greeted him as well and he laid down the stack of beer on the table next to the card game.

  
”Excellent,” John said and cracked one open immediately.

  
”I also got a few cokes if you need to slow down at some point,” Roger said and put the coke bottles next to John.

  
”Good thinking,” Simon said, nodding approvingly.

  
Roger knew John had had a couple of beers and probably some other substances already, and while all of them drank quite heavily now and then, they worried about John sometimes. He was a great guy but he didn’t always know when to stop and he’d get into all kinds of trouble, usually with Andy. Those two would dare each other to do almost anything and it’d often end badly.

  
Andy was the most reckless and impulsive one. It sometimes annoyed them, especially Nick. He hated it when Andy got caught by the pigs because it risked the integrity of the gang. Sometimes Roger thought Nick saw them as a mafia instead of a gang.

  
”Where’s Andy?” Roger asked, realizing he wasn’t in the room. He sat at the table and opened his beer. Then he threw one to Nick across the room, who caught it deftly.

  
”Dunno,” John said.

  
Roger shrugged and turned his attention to the game. Simon always claimed he didn’t cheat at cards, but Roger knew he did because he’d been watching him play when he hadn’t known he’d been observed. Simon was always really sneaky about it because he was such a good liar. He’d use his charms and acting skills to get himself out of any pickle.

  
Simon was such a bouncy and ridiculous person that sometimes they forgot he was twenty, but he had a serious side to him too. He saw himself as their big brother in a way, which would make him very protective of them if any of the gang was seriously threatened. Still, he was often so silly and carefree that if left Roger as the responsible and smart one.

  
Roger glanced at the clock. They still had a couple of hours before they headed out to the club. The Rum Runner was the biggest club in town and all the best bands played in there, but it was also a place to catch up with other gangs. It was mainly frequented by their side, but the place was pretty popular so it sometimes drew in all sorts of people.

  
Just then Andy bursted in through the door, swearing profusely. A bruise was forming along his jaw. They all turned to look at him.

  
”Bumped into one of those fucking Spandau kids,” he explained. He grabbed a beer as soon as he saw them on the table.

  
”Which one?” John asked.

  
”One of those annoying Kemp bastards,” Andy replied grumpily. ”I don’t know his name, it was the one that looks like a fucking rat.”

  
” _You_ look like a rat,” Simon pointed out.

  
John laughed loudly.

  
”Fuck off,” Andy said and slumped down in a chair.

  
”Gary Kemp,” Nick said from his corner.

  
”Why do you know?” Andy asked, irritated.

  
”Someone has to keep track of our enemies,” Nick said coolly, arching his eyebrows.

  
Andy waved his hand dismissively and gulped down his beer.

  
”So what happened?” John asked with a grin. Roger saw him peek at one of Simon’s cards when Simon had his attention on Andy, but Simon noticed anyway and smacked John on the head. John hadn’t yet learned to cheat at cards as subtly as Simon.

”What do you think? I was walking down the street and I saw him and he saw me and I punched him and he punched me back,” Andy shrugged.

  
”Then what’s got you so grumpy?” Simon asked. ”You love getting into fights with those little shits.”

  
”He told me the Spandaus will be at the club tonight. I don’t know what those preppies are doing at our scene unless it’s to piss us off,” he grumbled.

  
”Spandaus at Rum Runner?” Roger asked, surprised. They’d never seen them there.

  
”Maybe they’re planning something,” Nick suggested.

  
”I think Andy’s right, I think they just want to fuck with us,” John said.

  
Simon shrugged. ”Well, in any case, we’ll teach them a lesson.”

  
Simon looked cheerful. He wasn’t mean but he loved all the drama and excitement, and he was pretty territorial. He, Andy and John were the most rowdy of the group when it came to fights. Nick pretended he found all the rumble distasteful, but in reality he was ruthless. Roger didn’t have a real vendetta against the Spandaus and the preppies in general, but he had to admit there was something annoying about them and he didn’t object to throwing a good punch now and then.

  
Knowing the Spandaus were going to be at the club, they took more care in getting ready. They were usually pretty meticulous about their looks anyway, but when you were going to beat up your enemies you’d want to look really good and tough while doing it.

  
Andy changed his filthy shirt to a slightly less filthy shirt, while Nick applied more eyeliner to his eyes. John was waiting for Nick to finish so he could borrow his makeup. Meanwhile Simon was rummaging the house for his coolest studded leather jacket.

 

Roger looked in the mirror. He looked alright, but he took a comb from his back pocket and ran it through his hair just in case.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> let me know what u think! stay tuned if you want to see them Fight


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> waheyyy look I actually managed to finish this chapter already! enjoy!

The Rum Runner was packed with people by the time they got there. A local, popular punk band was performing that night and people had swarmed there to see them play.

  
They got in easily though. They knew the owners from having done them a couple of not-so-legal favors so they always let them in through the back door. They never questioned Nick and Andy’s ages, which was good, because Nick and Andy would absolutely have given them hell for it.

  
John seemed to have forgotten they were supposed to be on the lookout for the Spandaus and ended up getting pissed – unfortunately the cokes hadn’t helped – and he mingled with all the partying people. The rest of them tried to stay relatively sober so they wouldn’t risk losing the fight if they bumped into their least favourite people.

  
Roger felt uncomfortable in the mass of people. On the streets people rarely dared come close to the Durans because their reputation preceded them (or perhaps because they looked so cool), but there were so many people in the club that they blended in and he was lost in the crowd. He was able to somewhat ignore the elbows bumping into him when he was watching the band play, but eventually he had to get away for some air.

  
He grabbed a drink and walked through a corridor past the coat room to a more secluded area, when he suddenly spotted a familiar looking guy further away. He wasn’t that good with faces and the guy looked sort of average, but it was his clothes that made him notice him. He was wearing a pastel green sweater over a white shirt and had on trousers of the most boring shade of brown imaginable.

  
That was definitely a Spandau, he realized. He recognized him now. He had a vague notion his name was Keeble, but he wasn’t as good with remembering their names as Nick was.

  
He quickly turned on his heel before the Keeble guy noticed him so he could go tell his friends, but he almost ran into Nick who had apparently had the same idea of going for a breather. He quickly steadied himself so he wouldn’t spill his drink all over Nick and lightly pushed Nick behind the corner with him.

  
”What are you doing?” Nick asked, bafflement colouring his drawling voice.

  
”I just saw one of the Spandaus over there,” Roger explained in a hushed voice, though nobody could probably overhear him because the music was still thudding on loudly.

  
”Oh,” Nick said with interest and peeked around the corner. ”I was beginning to think they wouldn’t turn up.”

  
”What do you think we should do?” Roger asked.

  
”Maybe we could go beat him up right now,” Nick suggested.

  
”There might be more of them nearby though,” Roger pointed out.

  
”Hmm. You’re right,” Nick said and thought for a while. ”Let’s see where he’s going and then go tell the others.”

  
They turned the corner and suddenly locked eyes with Keeble, who had come closer to where they were. He was now joined by Gary Kemp, who had a bruise on his eye from his encounter with Andy earlier that day.

  
”Well, well. Look what the cat dragged in,” Gary said with a sneer, walking over to them.

  
”We could say the same,” Nick said and eyed him with distaste. Roger saw his lip curl with disgust when he beheld Gary’s outfit, which was similar to Keeble’s.

  
Roger took a deep sip of his drink. He wasn’t very good at coming up with good insults or comebacks, so he mostly left it to Nick and the other guys.

  
”Did you get lost on your way to Sunday school or something?” Nick asked before either of the Spandaus could reply. ”Because this is our place and we all know it.”

  
”No it isn’t. We have as much of a right to be here as you do,” Keeble said.

  
”Uh, you don’t, actually,” Nick said. ”But I suppose you won’t leave without a fight?”

  
”You bet,” Gary said, nodding. ”Out in the back in five minutes, no weapons.”

  
”Fine,” Nick said coolly.

  
The two Spandaus retreated, giving them middle fingers as they went.

  
”C’mon, let’s go get the others,” Nick said to Roger and they headed back to the mass of people.  
Andy looked almost happy when they found him and told him about the Spandaus. He must have been itching for the fight by now, Roger thought. Soon Simon appeared next to them, and together they searched the dance floor for John.

  
Simon spotted him drunkenly snogging someone, and he pulled him back by the collar of his jacket. John looked confused.

  
”Sorry to interrupt, but battle calls,” Simon explained.

  
John shrugged and joined them, walking a little unsteadily. Roger was worried he might be too sloshed to fight, but he seemed determined enough. Apparently he’d forgotten about his snog already; he could pull whoever he wanted to so it wasn’t a big loss to him.

  
They pushed their way through to the back exit and emerged in the chill night. All the Spandaus were already gathered there, huddled in conversation.

  
As they approached them the tallest one of them, a guy called Tony, turned around and looked them over. He was the official leader of the Spandaus, probably because he looked most like a Tory out of all of them.

  
”Right. We hate you and won’t obey your stupid territorial rules,” Tony said, addressing Simon who had stepped forward.

  
”And we hate you as well and you’re going to leave,” Simon replied calmly.

  
The Spandaus sneered and came closer so that they were all now withing fighting distance of each other.

  
”Shall we, then?” John asked cheerfully and rolled up his sleeves.

  
Roger saw Gary Kemp eyeing Andy viciously. He knew those two would probably choose to beat up each other, and as leaders Tony and Simon would throw the first punches at each other.

  
That meant Roger would just have to pick the one closest to him.

  
Tony and Simon were now circling each other, but Simon got impatient with dancing around and punched Tony hard in the face almost right away.

  
At that the two gangs rushed at each other and started fighting in earnest. Roger ended up fighting with that Keeble guy, who was roughly the same size as him and just as fast, which made him a tough opponent but not impossible to beat.

  
The sound of grunting and kicking and punching filled the air, and it was hard to keep track of which side was getting beaten up more.

  
As Roger managed to shove Keeble hard against a giant bin so that he staggered and stumbled, he had a momentary glimpse into how the others were doing. Tony and Simon were trying to get each other into chokeholds but failing. Right next to them it looked like Andy and Gary Kemp were both hell bent on winning, but Roger noticed that now and then Gary kept glancing at the other Kemp guy, his brother, to see how he was doing in his fight with Nick. Andy wasn’t distracted by anything, however, and Roger was sure he would win that one.

  
Finally Roger spotted John, who looked like he was going to fall over any minute now. It looked like he wasn’t bothered about it himself, because he was almost sure he could hear John giggling, but he was paired up with a rather beefy guy called Norman who was taking no mercy on John’s inebriated state and was landing heavy punches on him.

  
Just at that moment Keeble lunged at Roger again and his attention was focused on fighting him, but behind Keeble’s shoulder Roger could see that John had indeed fallen down and was being kicked at.

  
Roger felt anger such as he rarely ever felt. In gang fights when your opponent is unable to fight anymore, you’d help your friends by moving on to the next target so that they could defeat the rest and the fight could be won. But Norman seemed to be disregarding that rule completely.

  
Roger tried to throw Keeble down so he could go over and help John, but unfortunately Keeble fought back just as hard.

  
Then, out of the corner of his eye he could see movement and a flash of Nick’s bright red hair as he ran swiftly across the fight to where John was.

  
Suddenly a loud yell pierced the fight, loud enough that everybody stopped in their tracks.

  
”He fucking stabbed me!” Roger heard Norman yell.

  
Roger and Keeble both turned around and saw Norman slouched and holding his stomach. There was blood on his hands. Before him stood Nick, who flicked his switchblade closed and casually put it back in his jacket pocket.

  
”Nick, what the fuck?” Simon asked as he walked over. He stared at Nick sternly, but then saw John lying behind Norman.

  
”What, he wouldn’t stop beating up John even though he was clearly out of it,” Nick said with a shrug and crouched next to John. He was assessing the damage.

  
”Is he okay?” Roger asked as he came closer.

  
John looked bruised and confused and ready to pass out, but overall not as bad as he had feared. Roger breathed out in relief.

  
”Is _he_ okay?!” Gary spat out. ”What about Steve, he got stabbed!”

  
The Spandaus gathered around Norman, pressing his wound and trying to see how bad it was. The fight seemed to be definitely over, as the Spandaus needed to get Norman home or to a hospital, and they started to carry him away carefully but fast.

  
As the Spandaus were leaving the scene, Tony turned around and pointed at them.

  
”You cheated. We agreed no weapons. You’re going to regret this,” he said ominously, looking each of them in the eye.

  
Then he ran off to join his friends.

  
Roger sighed deeply. His face was stinging from a punch he’d received from Keeble, and he was sure he was bruising like a peach from some other points of contact as well. He wanted to go home and take a bath, but his mind was still reeling from what had just happened and knew he couldn’t leave his friends right now.

  
They all stood in silence for a while, but turned to look at John as he sat up with a groan.

  
”Did we win?” he asked.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> plot twist that wasn't really that surprising: nick is a vicious little shit


End file.
